


April 21st, 1983

by watchers_crown



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Trauma, F/M, Gen, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It ends on a hopeful note but we know what happened to cc after the bite so like idk, kinda but also not really - Freeform, no beta we die like men, not totally sure what qualifies as graphic violence so im tagging it to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24485530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchers_crown/pseuds/watchers_crown
Summary: A deafening scream pierced the air around them, breaking the calm atmosphere of the diner. In the moment, time seemed to almost slow down. Michael was acutely aware of everything around him, from his heart pounding in his ears, to his brother, who was now hanging limply from Fredbear's mouth, to the blood that seemed to be everywhere except for where it belonged. The image would forever be ingraned in his mind. He couldn't move, couldn't think, he wasn't even sure if he was breathing. Not when everything was crashing down in front of him. It was just meant to be a joke. A game. But now the game was over, and they had both lost.a.k.a A Michael Afton character study
Relationships: Elizabeth Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Elizabeth Afton & Michael Afton, Michael Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Michael Afton & Henry Emily, Michael Afton & The Crying Child, Michael Afton & William Afton | Dave Miller, The Crying Child & Older Brother (Five Nights at Freddy's), William Afton | Dave Miller & Henry Emily, William Afton | Dave Miller/Mrs. Afton
Comments: 6
Kudos: 96





	April 21st, 1983

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy, I wrote most of this when I was sad at 4 in the morning, so if there are typos lemme know and I'll fix them. Also please read the tags I really don't want to accidentally hurt someone and there's some potentially triggering stuff in here that isn't in the actual games so r e a d t h e m. That being said it should be noted this is running under the theory that Michael is the older brother and not the crying child, please don't bother trying to argue with me about which is true I don't really care.
> 
> -The CEO of using to many commas

A deafening scream pierced the air around them, breaking the calm atmosphere of the diner. In the moment, time seemed to almost slow down. Michael was acutely aware of everything around him, from his heart pounding in his ears, to his brother, who was now hanging limply from Fredbear's mouth, to the blood that seemed to be everywhere except for where it belonged. The image would forever be ingraned in his mind. He couldn't move, couldn't think, he wasn't even sure if he was breathing. Not when everything was crashing down in front of him. It was just meant to be a joke. A game. But now the game was over, and they had both lost. 

Seemingly hours later, although looking back it was probably only a few seconds, the teens were pushed out of the way by who michael thinks might have been Henry, though it was hard to tell in the moment. They stepped off to the side, and at one point Michael realised that his friends had run off somewhere else, probably afraid of getting in trouble. But he couldn't bring himself to care about whatever punishment he would surely recieve. He was more concerned about making sure Ben was okay.

He had never heard a scream like that before, and he never wanted to again. It didn't make sense. Stuff like this didn't happen in real life, just on the those movies he and his friends would have to hide from their parents to watch. Maybe it wasn't real. It certainly didn't feel like it was. Maybe if he just closed his eyes, he wouldn't have to see Ben's limp body, wouldn't have to hear the sickening crunch as the robot latched onto his head, wouldn't have to feel the blood staining his hands. Yet still he knew deep down it was real, and that he caused it. And no matter how hard he tried, he knew he would never truly be able to wash the blood off.

"Micheal!" The boy was pulled out of his thoughts by a commanding voice in front of him. . For a moment he was disoriented, forgetting he wasn't still at the diner. Then he remembered that the police had showed up, and he admitted to causing the accident. His friends had been no where to be seen. Currently, he was in an office of some sort at the police station. Looking up, he saw a man probably in his early forties, with short black hair combed neatly to the side and a policemen's uniform. The man looked at him sternly. He was probably one of the most intimidating people Micheal had ever met, aside from his dad.

"S-sorry," he choked out. "-Sir," he added quickly. He was already in enough trouble. And for once, he didn't feel like causing more. He quickly wiped his face on his sleeve, trying to hide the tears dripping down. To his suprise, when he looked up he noticed the man's face has sofened just a bit. Micheal straightened up in his chair as the man sat down in the one opposite to him. The officer reached out a hand towards him.

"I'm James," he said, looking at Michael with something akin to a smile. 

"Why is he being so nice? He knows I did it, right?" he thought. He returned the shake regardless. 

"Michael." 

"He already knew that, idiot," he mentally scolded himself. Finding himself unable to look James in the eye, he decided he was more interested in the desk between them. There were papers neatly stacked on either side, a mug filled with dozens of pens, along with some colorful fidget toys. His fingers almost twitched with the urge to grab one of them. James seemed to notice the staring.

"You can take one, if you want," he spoke gently, like he was afraid if he raised his voice the boy in front of him would shatter into a million pieces. Said boy glanced back up at him, his cheeks suddenly a bright red at being caught, but grabbed one of the toys anyway, quickly resuming staring blankly at the floor.

They sat in the awkward silence for a few more seconds. Micheal wasn't sure what James was waiting for, he had thought mabye he was waiting for him to confess, but he had already told them he did it. Though he wasn't compleatly sure why. It normally wasn't like him to confess to anything he did. Yet the moment Ben had been carried out of the building and the other officer had commanded to be told how it was caused, Micheal stepped up immedeitly. Mabye it was just because he knew they'd find it on the cameras eventually, and if he lied it would just make things worse. But that had never stopped him from feining innocence before. And deep down he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he not only did that to his brother, but lied on top of it. God, he had no idea what could have happened to Ben in the hour he had been sitting there. his bother could be dead right now beacuse of him and he wouldn't even know. Suddenly Micheal decided he couldn't take the suspense anymore and blurted out: "Is he okay?"

James looked a bit suprised at the sudden outburst. He looked at the teen grimly and sighed. "They don't know yet," He paused, considering his next words carefully. "Last I heard, they were going to bring him into surgery and see how much damage had been done, but they were hopeful," he ended, trying to sound optimistic. Micheal didn't seem reasurred as he dropped his head into his hands, feeling tears prick his eyes again. He refused to let a random stranger see him cry. And yet moments later he was nearly sobbing, trying and failing several times to calm himself down. James waited patiently, but he wasn't sure why. He didn't deserve the kindness this man was so insistent on giving him. It was almost worse then being yelled at.

A few minutes later he was able to fully calm down. Looking up, he noticed James was still sitting there with that stupid look of pity in his eyes. If he wasn't already exausted from the day's events, it would have made him mad. He also saw a box of tissues on the desk had been pushed in his direction. Micheal plucked one from the box and spent a moment cleaning his face, noticing in the corner of his eye that James had pulled a folder out from one of the cabinets.  
"Do you know what this is, Micheal?" He asked. Micheal shook his head, fidgeting with the tissue in hands. James opened it, shuffled through the papers and set some on Micheal's side of the desk. Upon further inspection, he realized they were reports on some of the dumb things he and his friends had gotten in trouble for. He sat back in his chair again, and James took the papers and put them back in the folder. "All of these incidents were minor, and spread out. Nothing bad enough to provoke a big punishment. But this isn't." Micheal shrunk further in his seat with every word. 

"I know," He said in a brittle tone, like at any moment the floodgates would open and he'd start crying again.

James sighed again. "Look Michael, I don't think you're a bad kid. And I'm positive you did not mean to hurt your brother. I want to help you." He looked up in shock. 

"You... you really think that?"

James smiled. " You wouldn't be so upset if you really wanted that to happen. Trust me, I've been doing this for 18 years. I'm sure it was just a prank gone too far." His smile morphed into a more serious look. "But it is still very serious, and I hope you've learned from it. Unfortunately, This is certainly not something you can get out of punishment from, we just won't know what that will be yet. " Michael nodded, letting his unruly curls fall over his eyes so he didn't have to look at the other man.

At that moment, The phone on the wall began to ring. James went to pick it up, and Michael took the opportunity to pick the up the fidget toy he had dropped and threw the tissue into the garbage can under the desk. The call didn't last long, and James sat down across from him again. "That was the hospital," be began. Michael's heart swelled in both fear and hope. "Your brother is stable, but they unsure how long that will last." He paused in thought, considering his options. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do: I'm going to call your parents so you can go see your brother. we can have this discussion later, okay?" 

Once again, Michael had been thrown for a loop by this man. He was really gonna let him go just to see Ben? He must be in really bad condition. Suddenly he was desperate to see him for himself, no matter how horrified he was at the idea of facing his parents right now. "Okay," he replied.

The ride to the hospital was as tense as he expected. His father was gripping the wheel so tightly, he was positive his nails would leave marks. His other hand was being held by his mother like a lifeline, as if he would dissappear if she let go. Neither of them had said a single word to him, and he wasn't sure if he prefered that to yelling. He wanted to tell them it was a mistake, that he would never purposefully hurt either of his siblings, but it was like he was walking through a minefield, and any little thing could be what sets one of his parents off.

Once they arrived, he realized they had already been here once, given they didn't bother checking in at the front deck and instead headed straight for the rooms. Michael tried to mentally prepare himself for whatever it is he was about to see. Upon entering the room, he immediately wished he could have stayed at the station.

Ben was asleep, something Michael was highly grateful for. There was an I.V of blood going into one of his arms, and a clear liquid going into the other. His forehead was completely covered in slightly red bandages. Along with a tube of oxygen going into his nose. His face was relaxed, like he was having a pleasant dream. "Or like he's dead," a dark part of him thought. He tried to brush the thought away as he looked around the rest of the room, seeing that Henry, Charlie, and Elizabeth were there, too. The two other kids had been playing with some mechanical toys Michael presumed were Charlie's when they walked in. He smiled awkwardly at the three when they looked towards him, receving mixed reactions. Henry and Charlie gave him small smiles, while his sister simply glared at him. His parents went to sit down by them and he followed suit, the scratchy fabric of the bench a small distraction from the situation. 

"Anything new?" his father asked Henry. The man answered with a shake of his head, Looking at his best friend grimly. They then started talking about something to do with the diner, and Michael tuned it out. 

He instead opted to watch the two younger girls playing on the floor. Elizabeth was inspecting some kind of mechanical horse while Charlie excitedly babbled on about how it worked, the former absorbing every word. As if they were having just a normal play date. It was strange to him, how the duo could seem so unbothered by the situation. Elizabeth, maybe. She was only 7, and their parents had probably explained the situation to her as gently as possible. But Charlie was older, and had to have understood that Ben, whom she was close friends with, could possibly die. Idly, he wondered if she even knew he did it. He figured his sister knew, given the glares she occasionally threw his way. But the older girl didn't seem to hold the same hostility towards him. Michael was never able to understand her. He was almost as much of a jerk to her as he was to Ben, yet she somehow didn't hate him. One time he had stolen her purple rabbit toy, while she and his siblings were playing at his house. At the time the girl was seething, but she forgave him shortly after, saying something about her father always telling her to be the bigger person. Maybe it was because they simply grew up differently. From what he had seen, Charlie seemed to love her father more than anyone, and vice versa. The one time Michael ever cried in front of his father, he was told that men don't cry. He never did it again. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed Charlie was looking right at him.

"Wanna join?" The ten-year-old gave him a shy smile, offering him the bunny in her hands. Elizabeth scoffed behind her.

"Why would you want him to ruin the fun? This is his fault, you know."

Charlie visibly deflated and slowly pulled the animal back down. "Oh.. right," she mumbled. Regardless, she looked at Michael apologetically before turning back around to face her friend. 

He partially watched them play for a few more minutes, hoping it would distract him from the tension in the rest of the room. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break the feeling of his father's eyes burning into the side of his head. "At least if I end up in juvie I won't have to be around him," he thought. He would gladly take being arrested over whatever it was his father would do to him behind closed doors. The bruise on his face from the last stunt he pulled still hadn't faded.

Eventually he noticed Henry begin to stand and glance at the watch on his wrist. "We should probably get going, it's getting late," he said as he started to help his daughter gather her toys.

"Hey, do you think you could take Elizabeth with you for tonight? We're gonna be here for a bit," His father asked.

"Of course." 

The girls beside him looked at each other excitedly at the prospect of a sleepover. The group said their goodbyes, and Henry gave him what he pretended wasn't supposed to be a sympathetic smile. Everyone was being way too nice to him when he nearly killed his own brother mere hours ago. Michael watched the trio disappear out the door, wishing desperately he could go with them. 

Then it was just him and his parents. It wasn't like he'd never been in this situation before, but those times were different. He didn't care then. If anything, he had enjoyed pissing his dad off with all the stupid things he did. His mom on the other hand was more calm, and would get often upset with her husband for the way he would treat Michael. It wasn't uncommon for it to then escalate into big arguments, and at that point he would usually slip away and try to distract his siblings so they didn't have to listen to it. He knew he may not have been the greatest brother in the world, but even he didn't think they deserved that. Sometimes, his father would get violent and try to hit or throw things at her. One of the few things the three had in common was how much they all hated nights like those. At one point, they just started leaving notes for their parents and going down the street to the Emily household. Henry never minded, always treating the kids like his own. He was one of the few adults Michael actually respected. They had always come up with some elaborate lie as to why they were there. Looking back, he wasn't really sure why they didn't just tell him the truth. Maybe they thought if they pretended it didn't exist, it wouldn't.

He remembered the first time he saw it get violent. He was ten, Ben's age, and had been suspended from school for getting in a fight with a teacher. It was the first time he'd ever acted out that badly. His mom got mad at him, sure, but it was nothing compared to the fit his father threw when he got home. He couldn't remember much of what had been said, but he definitely remembered being shoved against the kitchen wall after talking back. That was when his mom had had enough and got between the two. Both had seemed to assume that would make his father realize what he was doing and stop, but instead, he just shoved her away too. Then his attention was only on her, and he was yelling something about not getting in the way of him disciplining his son. Michael had panicked and grabbed one of his father's screwdrivers that was sitting on the counter. He hadn't known how far his father would be willing to go, and he didn't want to find out. Brandishing the makeshift weapon, he jumped back between his parents and jammed it as hard into his father's arm as hard as he could right before he was able to hit her. The three froze, unable to believe what just happened. The screwdriver fell onto the floor with a clang, it's business end now covered in blood. His father looked between him, his mom, and the bloody gash now on his left arm. And without saying anything, he simply grabbed his coat and left. It was only then had Michael realized his siblings were standing in the kitchen entrance, looking just as stunted as he felt. His mother had thanked him, but also asked him to never endanger himself for her sake. And surprising everyone, including himself, he agreed. His father came back the next day, and they never talked about it again.

Finally, his mother decided to be the one to break the tension. "I'm going to go get something from the cafeteria," She sighed. She straightened her dress and tried to pull her long dirty blonde hair back into a bun. It was clear how much of a toll this was taking on her, even at a glance. If there was one thing Michael knew, it was that Evelyn Afton was not one to be caught seeming messy in any way. She eventually seemed to have given up on her hair, letting the stray curls fall against her face in defeat. His father wasn't looking much better. His clothes were rumpled, and the gray invading his brown hair had seemed to increase tenfold in the past few hours. He was sure he probably looked just as messed up, but was too nervous to check in the bathroom mirror. His father stood up a moment later as well. 

"I think I will join you," he said, also trying to straighten his clothes. 

His mother glanced at him, as if to ask if he wanted to join them, but he was pretty sure she already knew the answer. He shook his head anyway, and she weakly smiled at him before leaving with his father.

It was then that he realized that it was just him and his brother, and he wished he would have just asked to go with Henry. He had been avoiding looking at Ben since he got there, but now It felt like he had no choice. With a sigh, the teen forced himself to leave his bench and instead sit in the plastic chair directly next to the bed. 

"...Hey," He began, willing his voice to not break. "I.. I don't know if you can even hear me so this will probably sound really stupid if you can't-" he broke off into a half hearted laugh that ended up coming out more like a sob. His head dropped into his hands as he tried to keep himself from crying. 'Men don't cry.' That was what his father said. He had no right to cry over it anyway, right? It was his fault. He was the last person who had any right to cry. He took a deep breath and tried again, this time grabbing onto Ben's hand that was resting on his lap. The warmth served as a sobering reminder that he was still alive, "I'm sorry. And I know that I can't undo anything I did, but.. I'm gonna be better, okay? I promise. For both you and Lizzie. We can go do all those dumb things siblings do on tv. It'll be fun, yeah? A-and I'll help you save up for that stuffed animal you wanted, SpringBonnie, right? then you'll have all of them." He couldn't hold back the tears anymore, instead letting them flow freely down his face without a care. Since when did he ever give a damn what his father said, anyway? "But we can't do any of that unless you get better. so... please get better, okay?" He gave his brother's hand a light squeeze, and for a moment, it almost seemed like he was trying to squeeze back.

**Author's Note:**

> Dunno how many reads this'll get since I've never posted on here before. But if you do enjoy it, kudos and comments are really nice, even if it's just a keysmash lmao. *edit* Holy hell there are a lot more of you than I expected. Uhhh stick around if you want I’m probably gonna end up posting more at one point.
> 
> \- Still the CEO of using to many commas :)


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